No Full Moon, but "The Wolf Man" appears on Svengoolie - Tonight!

The moon may not be full yet, but tonight on MeTV, Universal’s most enduring werewolf will appear! The man-beast whose repeated appearances in various movies during the studio’s classic monsters cycle were always played by the same actor- Lon Chaney Jr. will be presented in the origin story -when the tortured Larry Talbot is first cursed to transform, during every full moon, into- the “Wolf Man”!

It all begins in a rather melancholy mood- with young Lawrence returning to the ancestral Talbot home in England, to mourn the passing of his brother. There is another reason- he feels it’s time to reconcile with his father after some years of dissention. It becomes a warm reunion, and Larry joins his dad, an amateur astronomer, to help him by working on a new telescope that has just been delivered. In a development that seems a little disturbing today, testing the new instrument, Larry plays “peeping tom” and ogles an attractive young woman in an apartment window in town. This somewhat privacy invading glance from afar leads Larry to head into town to try and find this blonde beauty. He finds the local lass, Gwen, working in her father’s shop just below the apartment where he had glimpsed her. The shop girl seems to be unimpressed by this stranger- especially after learning that he was spying on her! Unwilling to give up easily, Larry persists and, at least, makes a purchase- a walking stick with a heavy silver handle- shaped like a savage wolf. Upon leaving the shop, they spot a caravan of gypsies (as they are called in this era-more about that later), and he does his best to persuade Gwen to go out with him that evening to enjoy the caravan’s entertainment.

The clever young woman actually does show up for the “date”- but has wisely invited her girlfriend Jenny along, much to Larry’s surprise- and disappointment. They visit the traveling group of Romani at their temporary camp, set up to reside in while entertaining the townsfolk.

The carefree mood of the evening changes when the friends decide to partake in the custom of having their fortunes told. While Larry and Gwen wander off, young Jenny goes first- only to have the fortune teller, Bela (played by a real-life Bela- Bela Lugosi!), see the fateful sign of the pentagram on her hand. He abruptly ends the session, shouting at her to leave at once- and the frightened Jenny flees, running blindly out onto the moors.

Shortly after, Larry and Gwen hear her shocking shrieks, and Larry runs towards the cries, only to see a huge wolf attacking the helpless girl! Using his silver-handled walking stick, he beats the wolf to death, getting bitten during his failed attempt to save Jenny’s life. The local authorities come to investigate and find the body of the attacker-but discover it is no beast at all, but-a man! Larry insists what he killed was a wolf- not a man- but can’t convince the authorities or the local folk that he is telling the truth.

Soon, a distraught Larry returns to the camp- where he meets the wise elder Maleva- who reveals a shocking truth to him. That "wolf" he killed was her own son Bela- who had transformed into a werewolf! When she hears that Larry was bitten by Bela, she warns him that now he too will become a wolf when the full moon rises! She instructs him on werewolf lore- delivering the oft-quoted rhyme that forebodes Larry’s fate- and cautions him that he will always see the sign of the pentagram in the hand of his victims. She provides him with whatever tokens of protection she can, but needs him to understand that he will never be able to escape this awful supernatural curse.

When the full moon rises- Larry sadly discovers that she speaks the truth. Meanwhile, the stories of Jenny’s death and the “murder” of Bela spread, and the townspeople all think Larry didn’t do enough to save Jenny- and is a killer as well! They treat him like a pariah, unwelcome and despised by the populace. His father begins to worry that Larry is having psychological problems, and tries his best to get him the help he needs, hoping to protect and not lose this son with whom he has only recently made peace.

The locals set traps for a wolf, but with the full moon coming again, Larry Talbot must convince his father of the horrible truth- and get his help in keeping the Wolf Man from going on the prowl and killing again!

The Larry Talbot character went on to appear in four additional films after his 1941 debut and, in later films, seemed perhaps too obsessed with wanting to die- but always stayed true to the character. We’ll talk about the cast members like Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Evelyn Ankers, the afore-mentioned Bela Lugosi, and Ralph Bellamy, among others- including Maria Ouspenskya. We understand that the term used to describe her – “gypsy” – is no longer politically correct- and apologize for its use here for those who find it offensive (apologies also that we did not have the production time to reshoot my segments using that name). We'll deliver a musical number, as usual- and, with our 45th anniversary coming up this summer, will show highlights of a previous anniversary-the live on-stage “40 Years as Svengoolie” interview we did at a past Flashback Weekend horror convention with our friend Nick Digilio of the “Nick D Podcast”. Also, we get another visit from Nostalgiaferatoo, and, since so many of you have told us you enjoyed our segment about the production of our dungeon set- we will encore the story of the creation of our current coffin!

"Wolf Man" appears- in spite of the full moon not occurring for a few more days- tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central, or, check for channel and time in your local listings or at www.metv.com . MeTV invites you, as always, to live-Tweet during the show on Twitter- and use the hashtag #svengoolie. Our Chicago area viewers can get one more visit to the terrifying Peter Cushing “Island of Terror" at 11 am on Chicago’s CW26.

We are just about a week away from our return to the big C2E2 convention at Chicago’s McCormick Place! You’ve seen segments that we have shot there in the past- and we will be again roaming the convention floor with our cameras- and, of course, autographing. You can reserve your place in the professional celebrity photo op ( yes, you do have to reserve those ahead of time) by checking under the “photo ops” schedule at www.c2e2.com . You’ll find also information under the “appearances” tab on this website!

Tonight, however- Larry Talbot will be roaming the fog-enshrouded countryside, himself enshrouded in fur- on MeTV!